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BETTER PHOTOS
Rishov Chakrabarti
1. Get in close
It was the famous photojournalist Robert Capa who once said If
your photographs arent good enough, youre not close enough. He
was talking about getting in amongst the action. If you feel like your
images arent popping, take a step or two closer to your subject.
Fill the frame with your subject and see how much better your photo
will look without so much wasted space. The closer you are to the
subject, the better you can see their facial expressions too.
The best way to hone your skills is to practice. A lot. Shoot as much
as you can it doesnt really matter what. Spend hours and hours
behind your camera. As your technical skills improve over time, your
ability to harness them to tell stories and should too. Dont worry too
much about shooting a certain way to begin with. Experiment. Your
style your voice will emerge in time. And it will be more
authentic when it does. Leah Robertson
Leah Robertson is a super talented Melbourne based photographer
and videographer, specialising in music and documentary
photography.You can see her work here.
4. Ask permission
When photographing people, especially while in countries with
different cultures and languages, it can be hard to communicate. In
certain countries if you photograph someone you are not supposed
to photograph, it can get ugly and rough very quickly if you are not
careful. So out of respect you should always ask permission. I have
started shooting a series of school children in Pakistan. These are all
posed portraits and they are looking down the lens. My guide helps
me with the language and I limit myself to smiling, shaking hands,
giving hi-five and showing them the image on the back of my
camera once it is done. You would be amazed how quickly people
open up. Andrea Francolini
6. ISO
There are questions to ask yourself when deciding what ISO to use:
What time of day are you shooting? If you are shooting outside
during the middle of the day you will need to use a lower ISO such
as 100 or 200. If you are shooting at night time without a tripod you
will have to increase the ISO to a higher number to be able to record
the light on the cameras sensor.
Will the subject be well lit? If your subject or scene is too dark you
will need to use a higher ISO such as 800 or 1600.
Do you want a sharp image or an image with more movement in
it? Using a high shutter speed to capture fast movement might
mean that you need to use a high ISO to compensate. Likewise, if
youre using a slow shutter speed to capture blur you will need a low
ISO to compensate.
Dont forget, increasing your ISO increases the grain or pixel size in
your photo. So dont use an ISO of 3200 or 6400 if you dont want a
photo with a lot of digital noise.
7. f/4
f/4 is my go to aperture. If you use a wide aperture with a long lens
(200mm-400mm) youre able to separate the subject from the
background. This helps them stand out. Works every time. Peter
Wallis
Peter Wallis is a sports photographer extraordinaire, working for The
Courier Mail in Brisbane. You can see his work here.
are you going to light it? Dont jump straight in without giving it
some thought first. Brad Marsellos
Brad Marsellos is the Wide Bay ber Open producer. You can see his
photos, videos and musings on lifehere.
13. Framing
This is a technique to use when you want to draw attention to
something in your photograph. By framing a scene or a subject, say
with a window or an archway, you lead the viewers eye to the
primary focal point.
15. Watermarks
This tip isnt in direct relation to TAKING photos, but it does affect
the look of photos. When it comes to watermarks, the smaller the
better. And if you can avoid using them, do.
Chances are, unless you are a paid professional, theres not much of
a chance of your photos getting nicked. But in reality, they wont
prevent your images from getting stolen. They only distract from the
fabulous image that youve created, because once youve slapped a
watermark all over it, thats all the viewer will be looking at. The
only way you can prevent your images from being stolen is to not
publish them on the internet.
Read Open producer Luke Wongs blog post on watermarks here.
16. Be present
This means make eye-contact, engage and listen to your subject.
With the eyes lower that camera and be human. Bring the camera
up for a decisive shot. But remember to lower it, like youre coming
up for air, to check in with your subject. Dont treat them like a
science experiment under a microscope. Being there with your
subject shows them respect, levels the playing field in terms of
power dynamics, and calms them down. Youll get much more
natural images this way. Heather Faulkner
Heather Faulkner is a photographer who convenes the
ePhotojournalism major at QCA, Griffith University. She is also the
executive director of The Argus, a student-run, visual journalism
online magazine. See her personal work here.
27. Perspective
Minimize the belly-button photograph. This is a reference to Moholy
Nagy of the Bauhaus movement in photography (which was all
about lines of perspective). In other words, perspectives are more
engaging when we crouch down, or lie down, or elevate our position
in reference to the subject. Look at how changing your perspective
can change the visual language and implied power dynamics of the
image. Crouching low can make your subject more dynamic,
whereas gaining height on your subject can often minimize their
presence in the image. One of my favorite exercises is to make my
students lie down and take pictures, often in the dirt. I am a little
cheeky. Heather Faulkner
29. Shade
Shade can be your best friend. If there is no way you can make the
available light work for your photo, shoot in the shade. Youll get a
nice even exposure with no patchy highlights throughout your shot.
31. Exposure
Ive been shooting a lot of protests lately. Basically, theyre just a lot
of people really close to one another; often moving. After having
made many mistakes with getting my exposures right, I worked out
that if the sun is behind me and in the face of protestors I will set
exposure compensation to underexpose by a stop to bring out even
tonal range. When the sun is behind the protestors I like to over
expose just slightly to bring out the shadow details on their faces.
33. Variation
Variation is key. I often use a recipe from Life Magazine picture
editors for building a story narrative. I look for: over-all shots or
scene-setters, interaction, action, portraits, details, medium shots
and of course the signature image. Having this list in my head helps
me start photographing a story that sometimes isnt visually
apparent until you get into it. This is great when youre in a crowded
or busy place. Heather Faulkner
supporting the lens, and you might end up with blurry photos. To get
an even stabler stance, tuck your elbows into the side of your body.
Now that you know some of the rules, go ahead and break them!
Experiment. Have fun. Learn from your mistakes. Make up your own
tips and techniques for taking fantastic photographs. Id love to hear
them.
Go forth and shoot!
A special thank you to all the amazing photographers who
made this blog post possible.